With an eye on the Super Bowl, Pearland wants to become a destination city

Updated 3:50 pm, Wednesday, March 5, 2014

With an eye toward capitalizing on Houston's growth and an expected surge in Super Bowl tourism, Pearland is positioning itself as a destination in its own right.

A new website and social media campaign touts Pearland as Pearland, not just a little brother to Houston. The website was launched in mid-February and was the final piece for a campaign that launched late last year. The marketing plan includes print and online advertising plus promoting packages and itineraries of things to do in and around Pearland.

The campaign slogan is "Pearland is the perfect pick," harkening back to the pear trees that gave the city its name back in the late 1890s.

The Pearland Convention and Visitors Bureau's 2014 budget is approximately a half million dollars, according to Tracy Rohrbacher, marketing manager with the City of Pearland. The budget is derived from a portion of the city's hotel occupancy tax.

"You have to find your niche," said Kim Sinistore, executive director of the Pearland Convention & Visitors Bureau, which was founded early last year. "We're not competing with Houston, we're complimenting it."

With the Super Bowl coming to Houston in 2017, Pearland is ripe to play a supporting role for that week of football festivities.

"I think the Super Bowl coming in will give our area quite good visibility," said Sinistore. "We want something that can bring in business and entertainment for the city."

She said Pearland is working on plans for a convention center, but she declined to give details on any further specifics or location.

The city says tourism brought in $117 million in visitor spending and $2.9 million in local tax revenues in 2012. So, what is bringing tourists to Pearland now?

"A lot of that is business travel," said Sinistore. "It trickles down from the hotels and into restaurants, buying gas, and all the services that go along with business travel."

With Pearland set close enough off the Beltway and I-45, trips down south to the Johnson Space Center and Galveston are doable via car. Downtown Houston, the Galleria, and the Texas Medical Center aren't too far way either, if you can stomach the traffic.

"Pearland is a great hub-and-spoke destination. You can do your day trips around Houston and come back to Pearland and eat somewhere, like Killen's or Kings Biergarten & Restaurant," said Sinistore.

Pearland Coffee Roasters serves up Inner Loop style coffee fixes within steps of a railroad crossing off FM 518 inside an old land office. A giant map of Pearland left behind from its former life takes up an entire wall. It's like looking at a medieval map of the world, Houston being where dragons lie in wait.

"The attractions start just past the Beltway with Bass Pro Shop and you go from there," said Mayor Tom Reid on Wednesday.

Pearland's retail attractions, including the hunting superstore and Pearland Town Center have helped place Pearland on the Texas Retail Survey's Top 50, coming in at 48.

According to the survey's official site, it analyses the retail performance of each of the state's 254 counties and 323 of the largest cities in the state, using sales data from 14 different types of stores, including general merchandise, apparel, and auto dealers.

A Pearland Kroger location is the largest in the Houston Gulf Coast, area according to Reid.

The Sri Meenakshi Temple - the only temple dedicated to Goddess of Meenakshi off the shores of India -- is a religious destination for many, located just down the sleepy McLean Road. Historic sites like the Old Settler's Cemetery and the Gulf, Colorado and Sante Fe Railroad depots are going to be eventually reinvigorated for increased visibility and community use.

"There are some veterans of the Texas Revolution buried in Old Settler's," said Reid. The mayor says golf courses like Southwyck, Golfcrest, and Country Place could keep business travelers plenty busy away from the meeting room.

As far as future growth, Reid said that the city is currently in the planning stages of a handful of detailed works projects.

"We're putting in place some very special facilities," said Reid, mentioning a toll road will go through Pearland at SH 288 and into Houston. He believes it could be in place by 2017.

Sinistore expects more hotels to come to the area off SH 288 by 2017 for the big game, too.

Reid says that development in Pearland hasn't been fast enough for some people, but he doesn't seem bothered by the fuss.

"We're not afraid to send developers back to the drawing board," said Reid. "If you want to be a destination city you need to be destination quality."

There are growing pains, both Sinistore and Reid admit. Reid says that the Pearland population is outgrowing the infrastructure's ability to serve it.

"What our challenge was in 1985 when I came on was to find the center of Pearland," said Reid. "Now our challenge is now to keep the small town atmosphere."